By Rev. Roland D. Sawyer

Views and Reviews Of Old Rockingham

The General Moulton House in Hampton

Hampton Union -- Thursday, October 18, 1951

The late Frank B. Sanborn was a man of violent opinions on many things, and one of them was his dislike of of Gen. Moulton.

When Hampton proposed to raise $100 for a suitable gravestone for Gen. Moulton, in 1890, Sanborn attacked the idea and Moulton’s record.

Many of us believe the attack of Sanborn was unwarranted by the facts.

True Gen. Moulton was a man of “private enterprise” mould and drove many a hard bargain, but he was also a brave and efficient soldier and caused to be settled the great town of Moultonboro, and he pushed his way to influence in the face of many difficulties.

Moulton’s Career

He was born in 1725, his Parents were poor and he was let out to a neighbor till he was 21, when he was 15 years of age.

He reached such skill as a cabinet maker when he was 19 that he bought his two remaining years from money he had earned by extra work, and at 20 opened a store in Hampton.

vHe pushed his way along till he and Christopher Toppanwere the two foremost business men of this region.

The two bought the cargo of a wrecked ship and made for themselves a great profit; both dealt in real estate and became wealthy for their time.

Moulton often resorted to lawsuits where he had driven a hard bargain, and made many enemies. He was a shrewd Judge of human nature, and knowing how fond Gov. Benning Wentworth was of flattery and attention, he fattened a large ox, dresses [sic] it with ribbons etc., till it made a fine show, then drove it to Gov. Wentworth and presented it with a flattering speech to the governor.

This was in 1763, and he received a token gift in return, of what he called a “small gore” of land upstate.

The small gore was a large tract, which became Moultonboro and several daughter towns, and his energy of getting settlers there was a benefit to the state.

He was a young man when the French War broke out in 1756 and he entered the service, he being at the time Hampton’s representative.

When the Revolution broke out in 1778, Moulton was 50, and his prior experience and his connection with military activities thru the years, secured him the commission of major.

He was later advanced to be Brigadier-General.

Gen. Moulton was one of the first to see the value of advertising, by wholesale or retail, a fine assortment of Brazory and Cutlery Ware, almost everything suitable to house-keeping.

Also a large assortment of winter and summer goods, suitable for men or women ware, Also West Indies goods, Salt, Cotton, etc. etc. I will engage to sell any of the above goods as cheap for ready cash as will anyone in Province. If any person is inclined to take a large quantity, I will give six months credit. I will also take Merchantable Boards delivered at Hampton, Exeter, Salisbury or Newmarket landings. Col. Johnathan Moulton.

Gov. John Wentworth, nephew of Gov. Benning Wentworth, for political reasons, laid many of the failings of his uncle upon the influence of Gen. Moulton, and hence there grew up a tradition of accusation against Gen. Moulton, which lasted long, and which was accepted and endorsed by Frank B. Sanborn.

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Hampton Union -- Thursday, October 25, 1951

No. 2

Joseph and Lucy Dow, in their HISTORY OF HAMPTON, treat Gen. Moulton generously and fairly; see page 870 of Vol. 2.

Also at page 854 of the same Vol., Dow tells of the 13 families led by Col. Stephen Mason, to take up and settle the town of Moultonboro.

Moulton built a large house, near the present, then called Rand Hill, which burned 1769. It was evidently an inn for there was 20 guests present when it burned.

He built the present house a few months after, and had it painted white with paint imported from England, the first house in this region so painted.

Moultonboro grew and became the parent town of seven daughters, Tamworth, Eaton, Burton, Chatham, Orford, Piermont, and his pet place now known as “Center Harbor". See Dow pg. 278 of Vol I.

Gen. Moulton died Sept. 18, 1787, age 62 [actually 61]. He had a child baptized 1787. Oliver Whipple bought from his heirs, Oct. 4, 1791 80½ acres and moved into the Mansion House. Dow page 1040. Dec. 1802 sold to James Leavitt, who then kept Inn, Hampton’s first Post Office, Dow page 814.

Leavitt’s heirs sold to Jabez Towle In 1843, (Dow 1013), after the death of Jabez it was to my own days known as “The Towle House”, being owned by the Towle heirs.

Every lover of the history and traditions of Hampton rejoices that Harlan O. Little of Newburyport and Salem, Mass., who bought the house several years ago, came so to love it, that he and his sisters have moved in, restored the house, and made it to appear, what it really is, the most famous house in New Hampshire.

If the town was misled by Frank Sanborn into ignoring the grave of Moulton, his house stands as a lasting monument, thanks to Whittier’s poem. Now the basis of the Whittier poem.

Abigail Smith was a remarkable woman. Not only did she have 11 children and innumerable tasks, but she aided her husband in attention to the small pox cases of 1758; and by a strange play of fate she fell a victim to the same disease around 1774.

She was buried in an unmarked grave in the field, near where the railroad later went thru. There she lies, mother of 11 children, keeper of an inn, nurse in small pox cases, burned out in 1769, one child dying by accidental death. Query was her wedding ring, worn 25 years, such a ring as the second wife would desire, even the bridegroom, were stingy enuf [sic] to use it?

Anyhow, the tradition came that he did this, it was circulated by those who hated him and it became a part of the damaging tradition in regard to a man, who was a leading man, a patriot in two wars, a colonizer of eight towns, Moulton’s “private enterprise” led him along a path to prosperity, but made him a victim of envy and hate. The same fate was that of Rockefeller, Carnegie and others in recent, times,

Moulton As A Military Leader

Whatever impression one may get from the business activities of Gen, Moulton and the subsequent weird stories of selling his soul to the devil, and the incident of the “dead wife’s objection to a second wife," we must admit that he was a man of force and energy in town affairs, and that he assumed a position of military leadership which entitles him to honor and respect for the same.

Moulton served in the French-Indian War, 1750-1763 and came out with the title of major.

When the Revolution broke, he led a regiment as Colonel and became Brigadier General.

So far as I know Moulton is the only man of so high a title in both Colonial and Revolutionary wars, who has no gravestone.

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The Facts As To His Two Wives

Hampton Union -- Thursday, November 1, 1951

No. 3

Moulton’s first wife was Abigail Smith, to whom he was married on February 22, 1749, and to whom he had eleven children.

If ever Hampton had a heroine she was one. In spite of her family and many tasks, she gave herself to helping care for small pox patients, contracted the disease and died, and is buried in an unmarked grave between the house and railroad track.

Moulton’s second Wife was Sarah Emery, to whom be was married on September 11, 1776, she being 36 years of age, by her he had 4 children. After Gen. Moulton died, she married Rev. Benj. Thurston of North Hampton. Gen. Moulton died September 18, 1787, age 61 years.

His last child by his second wife was one month and 14 days of age when he died. Sarah Emery’s father was Dr. Anthony Emery.

The poet Whittier had an intense interest in all tales of the wierd and mysterious and superstitions in this section where he lived, and known as Whittier Land.

He used many such incidents, or the tradition of such incidents, and put them into deathless poetry.

Especially so the wierd tales of old Hampton, old Newbury and old Ipswich, his poems were not confined to those towns.

One of the best known of such poems is that which wove into poetry the tradition that the spirit of the first wife came from the spiritland and stripped from the finger of the second wife, the ring the first bride had worn for 25 years before her death.

Dark the halls, and cold the feast, Gone the bridemaids, gone the priest. All is over, all is done, Twain of yesterday are one: Blooming girl and manhood gray, Autumn in the arms of May:(The fact -- Sarah Emery was 36 and Moulton was only 50.)

Hushed within and hushed without, Dancing feet and wrestlers' shout : Dies the bonfire on the hill ; All is dark and all is still, Save the starlight, save the breeze Moaning through the graveyard trees ; And the great sea-waves below, Pulse of the midnight beating slow.

From the brief dream of a bride She hath wakened, at his side. With half-uttered shriek and start,- Feels she not his beating heart ? And the pressure of his arm, And his breathing near and warm?

Lightly from the bridal bed Springs that fair dishevelled head, And a feeling, new, intense, Half of shame, half innocence, Maiden fear and wonder speaks Through her lips and changing cheeks.

Listless lies the strong man there, Silver-streaked his careless hair ; Lips of love have left no trace On that hard and haughty face ; And that forehead's knitted thought Love's soft hand hath not unwrought.

"Yet," she sighs, "he loves me well, More than these calm lips will tell. Stooping to my lowly state, He hath made me rich and great, And I bless him, though he be Hard and stern to all save me !"

While she speaketh, falls the light O'er her fingers small and white ; Gold and gem, and costly ring Back the timid lustre fling,- Love's selectest gifts, and rare, His proud hand had fastened there.

Gratefully she marks the glow From those tapering lines of snow ; Fondly o'er the sleeper bending, His black hair with golden blending, In her soft and light caress, Cheek and lip together press.

Ha !-that start of horror ! why That wild stare and wilder cry, Full of terror, full of pain ? Is there madness in her brain ? Hark ! that gasping, hoarse and low, "Spare me,-spare me,-let me go !"

God have mercy !-icy cold Spectral hands her own enfold, Drawing silently from them Love's fiar gifts of gold and gem. "Waken ! save me !" still as death At her side he slumbereth.

Ring and bracelet all are gone, And that ice-cold hand withdrawn ; But she hears a murmur low, Full of sweetness, full of woe, Half a sigh and half a moan : "Fear not ! give the dead her own !"

Ah !-the dead wife's voice she knows ! That cold hand whose pressure froze, Once in warmest life had borne Gem and band her own hath worn. "Wake thee ! wake thee !" Lo, his eyes Open with a dull surprise.

In his arms the strong man folds her, Closer to his breast he holds her ; Trembling limbs his own are meeting, And he feels her heart's quick beating : "Nay, my dearest, why this fear ?" "Hush !" she saith, "the dead is here !"

"Nay, a dream,- an idle dream." But before the lamp's pale gleam Tremblingly her hand she raises. There no more the diamond blazes, Clasp of pearl, or ring of gold,- "Ah !" she sighs, "her hand was cold !"

Broken words of cheer he saith, But his dark lip quivereth, And as o'er the past he thinketh, From his young wife's arms he shrinketh ; Can those soft arms round him lie, Underneath his dead wife's eye ?

She her fair young head can rest Soothed and childlike on his breast, And in trustful innocence Draw new strength and courage thence ; He, the proud man, feels within But the cowardice of sin !

She can murmur in her thought Simple prayers her mother taught, And His blessed angels call, Whose great love is over all ; He, alone, in prayerless pride, Meets the dark Past at her side !

One, who living shrank with dread From his look, or word, or tread, Unto whom here early grave Was as freedom to the slave, Moves him at this midnight hour, With the dead's unconscious power !

Ah, the dead, the unforgot ! From their solemn homes of thought, Where the cypress shadows blend Darkly over foe and friend, Or in love or sad rebuke, Back upon the living look.

And the tenderest ones and weakest, Who their wrongs have borne the meekest, Lifting from those dark, still places, Sweet and sad-remembered faces, O'er the guilty hearts behind An unwitting triumph find.

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Final On General Moulton

Hampton Union -- Thursday, November 8, 1951

No. 4

As we take our leave from Gen. Moulton in this fourth and final article, I want to call attention to the following items.

As Gov. Plummer states, he had many failings but he also had many virtues.

(2) General Moulton As A Patriot

Gen. Moulton was no man to shrink from deeds of valor. In the Saratoga campaign, so important in the war, he did splendid service. His regiment was mustered in at the front on Sept. 8, 1777.

It was later sent, under his command to reinforce the Northern Continental army at Stillwater, 1777.

His regiment had marched from Hampton to Saratoga and served from May to October.

In 1779 he was again leading his regiment, filling its quota. He signed the Association test.

(3)

Before the war broke out, he was active in the calling of the Hampton Town Meeting Jan. 17, 1774, to have the town take action, and he was chosen moderator of the meeting.

May 18, 1774, he was sent to the provincial congress at Exeter, along with Christopher Toppan, Capt. Josiah Moulton and Josiah Moulton the third.

He was chosen one of the Committee of Safety. He was chosen with Capt. John Moulton to go to the General Court for permission to raise troops.

He was delegate to the Constitutional Convention at Concord in 1778.

August 25, 1775, the Provincial Congress at Exeter chose Col. Jonathan Moulton to be colonel of the Third Regiment; Christopher Toppan to be Lieut. Colonel and John Lane, Major.

In 1775, he was given command to guard the seacoast.

(4) As A Leader To Settle Moultonboro

May 17, 1762, the Masonian Proprietors granted Colonel Moulton and others the right to settle Moultonborough.

Settlement was commenced with 12 months, and an additional tract of land was given in 1765. The town was incorporated on Nov. 24, 1777.

77 petitioners signed a petition that Benning Moulton, son of the general, be appointed magistrate of New Hampton, Aug. 6, 1784, the petition stating that "Mr. Benning Moulton is the gentleman most agreeable to the Inhabitants, and most likely to serve the good purposes of Government."

It is a manly letter, too long to quote, but should be looked up in the files by everyone seeking to make a candid and just assize of Moulton as a man worthy of respect.

R. D. S.

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Five More Vignettes Of General Jonathan Moulton

By Roland D. Sawyer

The General Moulton House in Hampton

Gen. Jonathan Moulton, son of Jacob Moulton and born in 1726, was in his day, Hampton's most famous man and probably still holds that place.

Gen. Moulton was great grandson of John Moulton born in England 1599 and one of the original 1638 settlers at Hampton.

General Moulton became the largest business man in Hampton and the wealthiest by his shrewdness and he felt his oats and built the largest and finest house in the town.

The family faded away and the beautiful large house built in 1770 was used as a storehouse for Italian help in 1898-1899 when the Street railway went through.

Its solid building made it stand without loss till near 30 years ago when Mr. [Harland] Little and his two sisters bought it, moved it back and moved into it.

Not only does the town of Hampton but the entire state of New Hampshire owes a debt to Mr. and two Misses Little for preserving the place.

In the judgment of this writer it has no equal in New Hampshire in historical interest.

This was and is helped by the poems of Whittier and the popular legend of its being haunted.

Gen. Moulton and his first wife, I am not sure about the second, were buried on their own private cemetery 150 yards from the house.

Gen. Moulton owned sailing vessels and brought material from England when he built.

His first wife died of small pox and he married again a young woman in her "thirties" and that wedding is told so well in Whittier's poem "The New Wife and The Old."

Thus not only is the old house an historical monument, but also basks in the Literary world.

The time-keeper there when putting in the street railway tracks spent his spare time writing a novel which became a literary gem.

The Old Moulton House In The Triangle

As one goes from Hampton village toward Hampton Falls and beyond 300 yards from the village, he comes to a triangle, where if he bore left he would go to Memorial Green, but bearing right goes on his way to Hampton Falls.

The Moulton house when it was in the triangle.

Our picture this week shows the famous Moulton House when it stood in the triangle but is now moved back beyond the little gove and in silent majesty.

The house was made famous by Whittier's poem "THE NEW WIFE AND THE OLD."

Of all the poems Whittier wrote of the old-days north of Cape Ann, none so gripped human interest as this weird tale of the haunted bride.

Whittier states he gives the story as he heard it when a boy and evidently of all the tales he ever heard, this gripped most.

Jonathan Moulton was born in Hampton in 1726, at 23 he married Abigail Smith.

He was captain of the local military company and saw service in the French and Indian War of 1756.

He, because of this service, was Colonel of troops to guard the coast in the Revolution.

He was a man very prosperous in business along with his friend Col. Christopher Toppan, a man a dozen years younger and his neighbor.

He built a grand house south of where the house in the picture stood, in 1748-1749, which burned in 1769.

Col. Moulton promptly built in 1770 the house which appears in the picture, and it was the first house outside of Portsmouth to be painted with paint imported from England.

The first wife died Sept. 21, 1775 of Small Pox and was buried in his land near where the railroad now runs.

Col. Moulton so quickly married again that he never erected a stone for the first wife -- this was noted and a subject of comment discrediting to Col. Moulton.

Sept. 11, 1776, ten days short of a year after Abigail died, he married the "NEW WIFE", Sarah Emery, daughter of Dr. Emery and then 36 years of age.

She was hardly according to those days a "Blooming girl" as Whittier calls her and Col. Moulton was only fifty.

Col. Moulton was a shrewd politician as well as shrewd business man and combined the two. He named a son "Benning" after Gov. Benning Wentworth.

He was also an able military man and commanded troops all thru the Revolution; he died Sept. 18, 1787.

A raft of stories arose of Col. Moulton, one of which grew into the legend of selling his soul to the devil for his money. Some of them came to Whittier and based on one of which he wrote of 23 stanzas.

According to that poem, the ghosts of the first wife stripped her one-time jewelry from the fingers of the second wife as she slept that first night following the wedding.

"God have mercy! ice cold Spectral hands her own enfold, Drawing silently from them Love's fair gift of gold and gem Waken, save me -- still as death At her side he slumbereth."

The house has had many owners since Col. Moulton and is now the home of Harland G. Little and his two sisters. It has been restored and many Moulton items collected and it today is an historic spot not equalled in our state unless it be some houses owned by a society.

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Hampton's Most Interesting House

When Harlan Little and his sisters bought and restored the old Jonathan Moulton House, they did a deed for which all of us who live in Hampton or one of its daughter towns must ever be grateful.

"My picture was taken in 1898 or 1899 when it stood barren and bleak, out in the fork."

It now sits in state, surrounded by a beautiful line of trees, in from the Main Road [212 Lafayette Road]

The street railway was being put in from Exeter to Hampton and between 50 and 60 Italians were making it their home, sleeping on the old floors where Col. Moulton had walked 125 years earlier.

Col. Moulton and Christopher Toppan were the most successful business men of earlier Hampton and naturally there was much envy of them by many citizens.

Thus arose many stories about them, especially about Moulton who was ever doing some spectacular thing, as when he drove a fat, decorated ox to Governor Wentworth.

The Provincial governor appointed by the British crown were cordially hated by the people of New Hampshire, and when one of the citizens showed such attention to him as did Moulton, the governor was tremendously pleased.

To show his pleasure he gave Moulton a tract of land which is now the town of Moultonboro.

Such stories as Moulton selling his soul to the devil for money, and stripping the rings from his dead wife's fingers to put them upon his new bride, these are spicy legends which survive.

Whittier took recognition of many legends of colonial days and none became so familiar and liked as his poem "THE NEW WIFE AND THE OLD."

The episode took place in the present house, for he married his second wife Sept. 11, 1776, she being Sarah Emery, daughter of Dr. Anthony Emery, and 36 years of age.

The old house burned in 1767, burned by the devil they said, because Jonathan Moulton who had sold his soul to him for an annual gift, a leather-boot full of coins, played a trick upon him.

In 1767, when the devil appeared for his annual payment, the Col. cut the sole off the boot, and the devil kept pouring and pouring in. At last, getting suspicious, he looked thru the window and saw the trick and in his wrath, he set the house on fire.

But the devil was not there when the "new bride" was robbed of her rings by the ghost of the first wife who had worn them.

Let Whittier tell what took place --

"God have mercy! ice cold Spectral hands her own enfold, Drawing silently from them Love's fair gift of gold and gem Waken, save me -- still as death At her side he slumbereth."

It sure was some experience for that 36 year-old bride when the ghost stripped from her finger the rings.

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SOME ACCOUNT OF THE

History of Earlier Hampton

And Its Daughter and Neighbor Towns

By Roland D. Sawyer, Kensington

My Hampton Ancestors - The Moultons

My grandmother's father was Deacon Thomas Moulton of Exeter. He was deacon of the First Congregational Church many years, and bought the farm that now adjoins the Exeter dump on Kingston road, on which his brother had started the house which now stands on the right as we turn the corner to the dump.

His brother first owned the farm and started the house that now stands there but for some reason sold it to Thomas, who was then up in the north country where he had gone to locate. He promptly came down, finished the house, tilled the land and became one of the solid citizens of Exeter.

Of all the Moulton clan, the one whose name is best known to fame was Col. Jonathan Moulton.

Col. Jonathan was born in 1726, son of Jacob Moulton and Sarah Smith, who was the son of giant John Moulton and Lydia Taylor, who was the son of Pioneer John and Anne ----- who came to Hampton in 1638, probably a brother of Thomas, another pioneer from England.

Now to turn to Col. Jonathan, the best known of all the Moultons and whose house, that he built, is (in my opinion) the most interesting house in New Hampshire.

Col. Jonathan was a military leader, led a group against the Abneki Indians and later served the entire Revoluntionary War.

He became the father of ten children (see Dow, Vol. 2, Page 870). He was a man wise in his generation and a shrewd man in the game of politics.

He named his fifth son, Benning, after Gov. Benning Wentworth, the most influential man in New Hampshire, perhaps in his time in all New England.

Col. Moulton built his first house on a knoll, and when it burned [in 1769], he had become a man of power and wealth, and he built the finest house outside Portsmouth in the county and state.

Envy of Moulton prevailed and the story was circulated that he got his wealth by selling his soul to the devil.

Gen. Moulton was proud of his success and was not at all disturbed by the stories about him.

He fatted an ox, decorated it with flowers, took between twenty and thirty men and marched to Portsmsouth and presented it to Gov. Benning Wentworth with a flowery speech stating it was a token of the great esteem for him that was held in the great town of Hampton. He did not overlook telling him what a fine boy was his son who was named after him.

Gov. Wentworth wanted at once to pay him or do him a favor in return, but any such thing Gen. Moulton disdained.

So the Governor invited the party in, stimulating drinks flowed, and when the Governor was ripe for it, Gen. Moulton brought up that earlier offer of a favor, and suggested that IF the Governor had somewhere a small gore of land up north he could send settlers to it.

Gov. Wentworth at once called his secretary and had him make out a gift of that "little gore", which really was over 80,000 acres which now are found in Moultonboro, Center Harbor, etc., etc.

Within a year, Gen. Moulton had sent four settlers by the name of Moulton with others to settle there.

Next week, we will turn to some of the stories about Gen. Moulton.

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SOME ACCOUNT OF THE

History of Earlier Hampton

And Its Daughter and Neighbor Towns

By Roland D. Sawyer, Kensington

The Moultons of Hampton

When Gen. Moulton Sold His Soul To The Devil

By one of his quiet moves Gen. Moulton had brought a little triangle of land known in early Hampton as "The Flatiron Lot" on which to build his house. He, along with Col. Toppan had bought the wreck of one of the British great ships which had hauled many loads of lumber back to England but which went down in a storm with all the goods aboard to trade for lumber.

Out of the profits Gen. Moulton put up a fine house, married a beautiful Hampton girl to become its mistress. Other women looked upon the couple with envy as they came to Sabbath worship.

Then came the first blow, the house burned [in 1769]. However, Gen. Moulton then built the largest and best house outside Portsmouth and in many ways superior to any in the state, and here the wife became the mistress.

More and more the tongue of envious people, especially the females, told of the terrible underground deals the General had with the devil.

Then came the second blow, the wife died of small pox and was buried in the night, 100 yards away, near, where later the Boston and Maine laid its tracks.

But the first wife's best friend was thirty and unmarried and she quickly accepted the chance to become mistress of the Mansion House. The General had not buried the first wife's jewelry with the body, so now he made a wedding present of the same to the second wife.

That first wedding night, the ghost of the first wife came and stripped away from the living fingers and wrist the rings and bracelet, and her command woke up the second wife with her demand, "Give back her own to the dead."

In the course of time, the General died suddenly, poisoned by the devil at a drinking party the people said. He was buried by the side of the first wife and later in great glee, a Hampton farmer took over the land and gloated as he drove his plow over the place covering all signs of the two graves.

A lawyer by the name of Whipple somehow became the owner of the property, but the devil's curse was there. He had two clergymen come and in a service, drove the devil away, this satisfied the slaves who said that not after that did they hear the spirits walking about on the stairs, but it did not satisfy the wife who left Whipple and went back to Portsmouth to her people.

General Washington passed through Hampton on his way from Portsmouth to Boston, and went to the house to make a salute to it because there had lived a Revolutionary commander.

But more and more did the natives dislike their "Haunted House." More and more it went toward decay, finally when the street railroad was being built in 1899 and 1900, it was the domicile of some forty Italians working on the road.

Twenty five years ago the state of New Hampshire owes a great debt to Mr. [Harland]Little and his two sisters who came over from Newbury and bought and restored the place.